The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry has undergone massive disruption since the pandemic—facing cost shocks, closures, and resets that forced rapid adaptation. Yet now it’s pursuing a dual agenda of rekindling growth while cutting costs amid a tougher backdrop.
Digital adoption has not only stuck—it’s evolved into a full digital reinvention of food commerce. The pace of change is accelerating: the global food and grocery retail market reached $12.7 trillion in 2025, up from $12.3 trillion last year, driven by CPG’s digital transformation and unified commerce. In the US alone, online grocery hit $11.2 billion in August 2025, up 14% year over year, as more households place larger, more frequent orders.
For brands ready to capture this momentum, here are the top food ecommerce trends shaping how global grocery and CPG brands will grow in 2026.
Food ecommerce market outlook for 2026
The shift from aisles to algorithms isn’t limited to the US—globally, digital grocery is entering a new phase of maturity. For millions of people, pushing a cart down the aisle with children in tow is not a reality. The new reality is adding a list on their phone, ordering from their couch, and getting everything delivered to their doorstep.
Market size and growth projections
By the end of 2024, a record 77.8 million American households were actively buying groceries online each month. Millions of families have now made online grocery shopping a part of their routine.
The growth is happening faster than anyone imagined. The US online grocery market is on track to exceed $220.5 billion in 2025. To put that in perspective, it's the second largest ecommerce category.
And the pace is only picking up. Forecasters now think the market will reach $388 billion by 2027, a 25% increase that far exceeds earlier forecasts.
Key drivers reshaping the industry
So what’s driving the change? A few things are shaping the industry, and they all point to more opportunities for brands like yours.
- Shopping is a hybrid experience. The debate of online versus in-store is off the table. More than 90% of shoppers now expect to do both, moving seamlessly between browsing on their phone and picking up in person. Options like local delivery and curbside pickup are permanent expectations.
- The race to the front door is getting faster. Customers are getting used to incredible speed from giants like Amazon and Walmart, who are turning their thousands of stores into same-day delivery hubs. The bar for convenience is higher than ever, pushing every brand to innovate and find its own way to deliver a fantastic customer experience.
- Online grocery is becoming more inclusive. More people can access online grocery shopping than in previous years. With the SNAP program continuing to add more online retailers, the potential customer base has broadened significantly, opening the door for brands to serve new communities.
- Category economics are improving with scale. Both delivery and pickup continued to gain ground in late 2024, with delivery growing 22% and pickup growing 8.8% year over year. But here's the really interesting part: people are creatures of habit. It turns out that 72% of shoppers now stick to just one fulfillment method—they're either a "delivery person" or a "pickup person."
Together, these shifts mark a broader CPG digital transformation—where technology, consumer behavior, and logistics converge to make operations faster and more efficient. These factors now shape how food ecommerce brands compete.
Six food ecommerce trends transforming the industry
1. AI-powered personalization reaches new heights
Personalization is the foundation trend enabling nearly every innovation below. AI in ecommerce now manages the entire shopping journey, acting as a smart assistant for your customers.
The technology is already live. For example, Instacart's Smart Shop uses AI to personalize everything from search results to dietary guidance. Smart refrigerators from Samsung can now recognize items and automatically reorder them through Instacart. Even in physical stores, AI-powered smart carts, like those being piloted at Wegmans, can identify items and connect in-store behavior to a customer's digital profile.
On Shopify, brands are also already using this strategy. Magic Spoon, for example, uses Rebuy to personalize cross-sells and subscription offers, resulting in a 14.75% increase in their average order value.
AI-driven CPG personalization now shapes everything from product suggestions to reorders, helping brands anticipate customer needs. These insights strengthen subscription and omnichannel experiences.
2. Subscription services evolve into comprehensive lifestyle platforms
The global subscription economy is worth $560 billion in 2025, and advancing at a 13% CAGR over the next decade.
For food and beverage brands, the model offers customers flexibility in how they pay—often through “subscribe and save” options that reward loyalty and consistency.
For example, coffee and tea brand BLK & Bold offers their customers the option to subscribe at various intervals and save on recurring shipping costs:
A CPG brand can offer subscription services in a few different ways:
- Product trials: A popular subscription type, these boxes include curated products with different levels of customization. Food ecommerce brands can let customers sample items or send seasonal food boxes based on their preferences and dietary requirements.
- Refills: Product refill subscriptions replenish items regularly for a set period of time, saving customers time and money.
- Membership subscriptions: This model gives customers access to exclusive products, discounts, or perks.
A successful subscription business requires a technology platform that can handle the complexity without failing. This was the challenge facing Good Ranchers, a direct-to-consumer meat company. Their subscription business was central to their growth, but their previous platform, BigCommerce, couldn't keep up.
"At one point, we were only processing 50% of our subscriptions because of this system," says Jermain Gil, chief growth officer at Good Ranchers. "That was when we realized we don't need to be a technology company."
By migrating to Shopify, Good Ranchers stabilized and grew their core business. They leveraged a dedicated subscription management partner from the Shopify App Store and utilized the high-converting Shopify Checkout with Shop Pay.
The results were impactful:
- 48% year-over-year revenue growth after the migration
- 10% increase in subscription adoption
- 12% increase in their checkout conversion rate
Subscription data can help brands deliver more consistent omnichannel experiences by connecting customer preferences across channels.
3. Omnichannel integration becomes essential for competition
As personalization and subscription models mature, the next frontier is integration—connecting every channel into one unified commerce experience.
Creating omnichannel experiences is no longer optional. It’s about building lasting relationships with customers, no matter how or where they shop.
Online shopping for many of these customers is not about a one-stop shop. Ecommerce businesses must be prepared to offer customers consistent, personalized communication on each channel they choose.
Being present on multiple channels is only the first step. The real challenge and opportunity is creating a truly unified commerce strategy where all your sales channels operate from a single, central platform.
As premium French chocolatier Jeff de Bruges expanded in North America, they struggled with the complexity of managing separate systems for their ecommerce site and physical retail stores.
The team found themselves bogged down by inefficiency. "We used to spend most of our time on non-value-added tasks," says Xavier Chambon, VP of Jeff de Bruges Canada. "The team needed a unified system that would let them spend less time on menial tasks and more time on customer experience and growth".
Adopting Shopify POS, Jeff de Bruges began running under a unified commerce model, managing their entire Canadian operation from a single platform. The changeover showed immediate results like:
- 220% growth in online sales
- 25% improvement in email capture at the point of sale
- 5% sales lift in stores within the first 30 days of launch
With a single view of their customers and inventory, the team could finally focus on strategy instead of administration. As Chambon puts it, "Retail is a science now, and we need tools that help us make good decisions. Shopify gives us those tools".
That same integration is now extending into channels like social commerce—setting up the next major shift in how customers discover food and beverage brands.
4. Social selling and live commerce drive discovery
Brands are now meeting customers directly where they scroll. Another trending area related to DTC selling is using social media to make those sales, known as social commerce.
TikTok Shop alone saw roughly $33.2 billion in sales in 2024, with the US quickly becoming its largest market at around $9 billion. One in three US consumers has already bought something from TikTok Shop, a 2024 report from Omnisend found.
This method allows customers to buy from the brand without having to leave the social media platform, which can introduce friction and increase the likelihood of abandoning the sale.
Social commerce is a great way for small food and beverage brands to scale their audiences—with over half of the world’s population using social media platforms, there are more opportunities than ever to reach your customers where they are.
✨Shopify Power-Up: The TikTok Shop Channel app allows you to sync your products, inventory, and orders directly with your Shopify admin. You tap into a huge new audience while keeping your Shopify store as the central system for your entire business.
Social commerce is becoming a powerful discovery engine for food brands—turning engagement into sales. These insights also strengthen sustainability stories and community connections.
5. Sustainability initiatives become brand differentiators
Sustainability is now table stakes as regulations tighten and consumers demand authenticity. In food and beverage, that means sustainable products, packaging, and sourcing. The push for sustainability is coming from two sides.
- First, new rules, such as the EU's Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation, set strict targets to reduce waste, improve recyclability, and limit excessive packaging by 2030.
- Second, customers are voting with their dollars. Even with high price sensitivity, consumers report a willingness to pay an average of 9.7% more for sustainable products.
Shoppers still prioritize price and quality above all else, so brands need to find cost-effective ways to go green.
“Consumers will continue to care more and more about the food brands they are buying from, and will choose to spend their dollars on authentic, purpose-driven brands,” says Kate Flynn, CEO of Sun & Swell.
“Brands should ensure marketing efforts are genuine and use this as an opportunity to truly highlight all of the amazing things to happen behind the scenes, such as showcasing suppliers they are proud to support.”
✨Shopify Power Up: Shopify Planet makes it easy to take action and show your work. You can offer carbon-neutral shipping, add sustainability badges to your storefront, and contribute to verified carbon-removal projects.
New food retail technology—like recyclable packaging, efficient operations, and traceable sourcing—helps brands stay transparent and accountable. Today, sustainability and food safety transparency go hand in hand, setting a new standard for consumer trust.
6. Food safety technology and supply chain transparency gain priority
Customers want to know where their food comes from. The FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rule now requires businesses to keep detailed digital records for faster and more targeted recalls. The compliance deadline for this rule has been extended to July 20, 2028.
To meet these new standards, brands need to connect their systems. Your inventory management, warehouse systems, and ecommerce platform must all communicate with each other to avoid critical data from getting trapped in silos. The goal is to quickly identify and locate specific batches or lots of a product, whether it was sold on your DTC site, through a marketplace, or in a physical store.
✨Shopify Power-Up: For brands on Shopify, your data is already unified, so your systems can talk natively without middleware. You can also install traceability software like the Freshly Batch Inventory app.
The app’s a winner of the FDA Smarter Food Safety Traceability challenge, and is designed to help merchants selling perishables and regulated goods with batch tracking, automated stock rotation, and customer order tracing for audits or recalls.
Digitized supply chains do more than meet regulations—they cut waste, lower costs, and build trust. They’re also driving adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain tools that make food ecommerce more transparent.
Emerging technologies reshaping food commerce
The next wave of food retail technology underpins every trend above—from personalization and subscriptions to sustainability and traceability. These tools blur the line between digital and physical shopping, making food ecommerce more transparent and smarter.
Augmented reality for virtual food experiences
Ever wondered if that big box of snacks will actually fit in your crowded pantry? AR is here to answer that question. It's quickly becoming a useful tool for shoppers, with the market expected to explode from about $5.9 billion in 2024 to over $38.5 billion by 2030.
You can now pull out your phone, and through a Shopify store, see a 3D model of the product sitting right on your shelf in real time. Brands are even adding QR codes to their packaging that launch into interactive recipes or brand stories, which turn the product itself into a new experience.
AR brings storytelling and product discovery to life—bridging online and in-store engagement in ways that support the omnichannel strategies driving modern food ecommerce.
IoT and smart packaging innovations
The barcode on your food is also getting a major upgrade. The packaging itself is becoming intelligent, sporting freshness sensors and time-temperature indicators, part of a market set to hit $42 billion in 2033.
Old barcodes just held a price. But by 2027, the industry is shifting to information-rich 2D codes, much like the QR codes you see everywhere. These act as digital passports for all food products, connecting inventory, logistics, and safety data in real time.
A quick scan can show you when a product was packed, if it stayed at the right temperature during shipping, and its full journey to you, which is a huge step forward for building trust and guaranteeing freshness.
IoT and smart packaging close the loop between fulfillment, sustainability, and safety—enabling faster insights and smarter supply chains.
Blockchain for supply chain verification
Blockchain can sound complicated, but its role in the food industry is simple: creating unbreakable trust. It works like a shared digital receipt that’s stamped and verified every step of the way, from the farm to the processor to the store.
When you scan that smart 2D code on a package, it can pull its story directly from the blockchain, giving you verifiable proof of where your food came from. It's the technology that powers the transparency everyone is asking for.
Blockchain ties every innovation above together—ensuring that data from AR, IoT, and ecommerce platforms remains verified and secure. Together, these technologies form the foundation for a connected, trustworthy food ecommerce ecosystem.
Food and beverage ecommerce growth accelerates in 2026
CPG and food ecommerce brands that adapt quickly will lead the next phase of growth. The most successful players will balance the dual agenda—rekindling growth while improving efficiency—by using technology, data, and unified commerce to stay connected to shifting consumer habits.
By embracing the trends above, brands can unlock scalable, sustainable growth and meet the evolving expectations of tomorrow’s shoppers.
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Food ecommerce FAQ
What is food ecommerce?
Food ecommerce is the business of selling food and beverage products online—either through your own store or alongside a brick-and-mortar location.
Unlike other retail categories, food sellers must be vigilant about transparency, processing, and ingredient labeling, and allergens to maintain trust and compliance.
What is the best food to sell online?
The best foods to sell online are shelf-stable products with high repeat purchase potential. Top-performing categories include snacks, coffee, spices and seasonings, shelf-stable meals and mixes (like soups and sauces), and pantry staples like hot sauce and oils.
What is the 3-3-3 rule for groceries?
The 3-3-3 rule simplifies grocery shopping and meal planning. Shoppers buy three proteins, three carbs, and three healthy fats to mix and match throughout the week. It's a practical way to cut down on decision fatigue and reduce food waste.
Is Instacart ecommerce?
Yes. Instacart is a form of ecommerce where consumers browse products, add items to a digital cart, and checkout online. A personal shopper then fulfills the order from a local store and delivers it to the customer’s door.
